Santa Clara Focus – Opinion
Other News Outlets Are Catching On to the Wrestling Match Between the 49ers and City of Santa Clara
By Robert Haugh
Two years ago, red and gold confetti was flying freely as a grand celebration was held honoring the opening of the high-tech, $1 billion Levi’s Stadium.
Since that day, much has changed. The 49ers went from a winning, playoff-caliber team, to one of the worst teams in the NFL.
Off-the-field, the 49ers and the Mission City are entrenched in a fierce wrestling battle – perhaps both sides should square off inside a WWE wrestling ring – heck, it may just bring in lots of money to the City, errrrr ManCo. Mission City Mania? Might be more entertaining than recent 49ers game.
Here are a couple recent articles discussing the scuffle:
http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/12/19/santa-clara-and-the-san-francisco-49ers-where-did-it-go-wrong/
Key Sentences:
(Mayor) Gillmor shoots back that the team needs to “rebuild trust in the community — which is lacking.” That’s something longtime fan (Dororthy) Rosa can relate to.
“I had a lot of faith in Jed,” Rosa said, “and the way it’s going — my faith is gone.”
Key Takeaway: Trust is key. As evidenced by the election, Santa Clara residents trust the Mayor, and are very leery of the 49ers.
Key Sentence: “At issue is whether the 49ers and ManCo have cooked the books and whether the city is entitled to more money.”
Key Takeaway: This is the crux of the matter. According the city’s auditors at the last Ad Hoc stadium audit committee meeting, the 49ers are not cooperating and they can’t finish their audit — the one that was suggested by the grand jury.
Both articles are good, long reads about what went wrong. The SanJoseInside.com story is more detailed and highlights the failure of city staff. City Manager Rajeev Batra’s quotes are comical and really bad. But he’s just an interim. The City won’t likely get a handle on the situation until they have good audit numbers and better city staff handling the stadium.
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Lisa vs. Jed. YES! But, seriously, I wish they end off on this mania & figure out a solution. Give up the documents, agree to keep sensitive numbers Closed, & (both sides) straighten out the accounting. Rest in Peace!
Aren’t you the same Haugh who wrote those kiss-ass stories about the 49ers a few years ago?
It was my job writing about the 49ers. I wrote ptobably 100 articles regarding the stadium – several discussed opposition to the stadium, as well as parking issues. I covered the 49ers community events as well – such as those when the 49ers opened StenZones or fitness centers at local schools …
The City of Santa Clara has failed its citizens on numerous levels. The city attorney, as the stadium authority’s attorney, has not enforced the terms, conditions, nor safeguarded the assets, income and citizens of Santa Clara … He has done a pathetic job and needs to be given his walking papers immediately. We pay too much for bad and NO advise and even the advise we hire on his recommendation is weak.
The City Manager and his staff are either not doing their job or are not doing a good job either. If they are reviewing, or inspecting stadium information (as the 49ers contend) then why are they the only ones who know the information? They work for a public agency … They do not have the right to withhold information from the Stadium Authority nor from the public. The current Interim City Manager appears to not have a handle on this problem even after months in his current position … Fortunately, the last one is gone. Any one working for the current or past City Manager withholding information from the Stadium Authority also needs to be fired too.
It appears that City Hall may be filled with people that tend to forget that they work for a PUBLIC agency and they have a legal obligation to that agency. If they want to protect the 49ers, go work for them.
Time to start 2017 with fresh staff with a refreshed knowledge of who they work for and who they report to.
This message must be delivered to all city staff immediately: The back door dealings with the 49ers MUST stop and the undermining of the City Council and Stadium Authority is a career ending move, stop it or YOUR time as a City of Santa Clara employee is over, regardless of your position or time in seat.
The City of Santa Clara has failed its citizens on numerous levels. The city attorney, as the stadium authority’s attorney, has not enforced the terms, conditions, nor safeguarded the assets, income and citizens of Santa Clara … He has done a pathetic job and needs to be given his walking papers immediately. We pay too much for bad and NO advise and even the advise we hire on his recommendation is weak.
The City Manager and his staff are either not doing their job or are not doing a good job either. If they are reviewing, or inspecting stadium information (as the 49ers contend) then why are they the only ones who know the information? They work for a public agency … They do not have the right to withhold information from the Stadium Authority nor from the public. The current Interim City Manager appears to not have a handle on this problem even after months in his current position … Fortunately, the last one is gone. Any one working for the current or past City Manager withholding information from the Stadium Authority also needs to be fired too.
It appears that City Hall may be filled with people that tend to forget that they work for a PUBLIC agency and they have a legal obligation to that agency. If they want to protect the 49ers, go work for them.
Time to start 2017 with fresh staff with a refreshed knowledge of who they work for and who they report to.
This message must be delivered to all city staff immediately: The back door dealings with the 49ers MUST stop and the undermining of the City Council and Stadium Authority is a career ending move, stop it or YOUR time as a City of Santa Clara employee is over, regardless of your position or time in seat.
IF you read the cover story of the local Metro Weekly, you’ll see that Debbie B is right. The city manager looks clueless. He and the rest should be fired.
We did read the metro cover story and linked to it here. 🙂